Are you wondering how to stay healthy while traveling? Bali Belly, Delhi Belly, the Turkey Trots, the Cairo Curse, the Bangkok Bloat, the Dakar Dash, Montezuma’s Revenge, or the Hong Kong Crud do not have to accompany you on your exploration of a developing nation.

You’re a savvy enough traveler to know to not drink the local water, inclusive of using bottled water to brush your teeth and avoiding opening your mouth while in the shower. You already have packaged foods to carry in your day bag to fill in for meals in case you don’t trust that the local produce was washed with purified water or that the animal foods were thoroughly cooked.

The question is- what if you feel a rumble coming on and you suspect that something got down the hatch in spite of your precautions?

Diarrhea is the body’s response to getting rid of a pathogen. Nearly all digestive disturbances while traveling are bacterial or parasitic. Most western remedies just mask the problem rather than cure it. (Plugging yourself up with the medications you’ll find in drug stores to halt the purging only results in the pathogen having more time inside of your body to colonize, rob you of the nutrients you eat, and burrow into your tissues. Your goal is to eradicate the pathogen, not give it more time to proliferate inside of you.)

I’ve explored 17 developing nations within the last 8 years and in doing so I’ve relied on some trusted herbs which have served me well (while traveling via camel, sleeping in mud huts, and admittedly downing any foods which looked good despite their unknown origins). My favorite 3 anti-parasitic herbs are wormwood, black walnut (check the label to be sure what you’re buying was harvested while the hulls were green), and cloves. The first 2 annihilate the adult and various developmental stages of at least 100 parasites, and the clove kills the egg version of them (if you don’t rid yourself of the eggs they will grow into the adult stage of these parasites and lay more eggs). I carry liquid tinctures of these 3 and make an herbal cocktail of them each night before bed (take them on an empty stomach for the strongest impact) as part of my daily traveling regime. You can also find these 3 herbs in capsule form and pop them down in between meals. In addition to taking them throughout your trip, take them daily for a full 2 weeks upon return- just to be sure you eliminate any parasitic eggs planted in your alimentary tract.

Two other helpful remedies to take, both on a precautionary basis and after an infraction, are quassia and grapefruit seed extract. The astringent resin of the quassia tree (indigenous to Jamaica, Panama, and Brazil) inhibits insects and other pests from resting on it yet in humans it is not only safe to be used for purging worms and parasites as well as taming malaria, some brewers use it as a substitute for hops when making beer. You can easily find quassia and grapefruit seed extract in either capsule or liquid form in most natural supplement stores.

While in Bali and India I carried with me, in addition to the aforementioned herbs, an ionic silver liquid. Forgetting to notice if the bottled water I had purchased in India was sealed or not, I realized (after gulping down 1/3rd of the bottle) that it was not sealed (refilling empty water bottles with tap water and selling them to tourists is not uncommon so always check the seal). I was grateful to have a bottle of ionic silver with me and a few drops later I didn’t even experience so much as a hic-cup.

Hydrochloric acid is crucial for full digestion. Most people, despite what the pharmaceutical advertisements blast at us, have too little rather than too much. HCL is what kills the pathogens we eat- they cannot survive beyond our stomachs if we have adequate HCL. What this means is that if you produce (or consume) enough HCL you won’t have to worry about parasites being able to get into your small intestine or lower because they’ll be killed instantly by your stomach juices. The average 40 year old has 15% less HCL than they had at age 25, and at age 65 they have 85% less. Buy HCL in capsule form and take it with meals when in unhygienic locations. Start with 1 or 2 capsules (always with food, never on an empty stomach) and if you don’t feel a burning increase the dosage to up to 6 capsules during a large meal.

If you experience the opposite problem (constipation being common after extended plane flights and having changed time zones) be sure to drink 60+ ounces of bottled water (both while in flight and each day throughout your trip) being careful to space your water consumption apart from meals. (Drinking more than a few ounces of water with meals dilutes your gastric juices which are needed to fully break down your food and kill any food-borne pathogens.) Magnesium (in the citrate, oxide, or malate form) attracts water and therefore pulls water through your body breaking free what may feel like an abdomen of cement. There’s no danger of over-dosing since you’ll excrete whatever your body can’t immediately use. The ascorbic acid form of vitamin C (in doses of 2000 mg, taken multiple times throughout each day) is another powerful tool for moving the bowels. Both magnesium and vitamin C are safe to take for extended lengths of time.

For more information on being resistant to parasites and other pathogens check out “Your Health = Your pH: How To Reverse Illness & Gain Vitality”.